(The Idiot on) The Celestial Mountain

"The Idiot on the Celestial Mountain". How can one be thirsty when one is already a fish in water? asked the Zen poet Gakuin Ekaku. Isn't it like having everything without realizing it? "(The Idiot on) The Celestial Mountain" is inspired by the meditations with Buddhist monks that I listen to on YouTube. The red background, mottled with shades of green and blue, evokes the weathered walls of Buddhist temples or a mandala. This background was created using multiple layers of acrylic, both thick and diluted, to play with depth. The more calligraphic foreground features fleeting black lines also in acrylic, where a tension plays out between figuration and abstraction. Perhaps it is the "idiot on the Celestial Mountain" who has emerged and is gazing off in an unknown direction.